


Discoveries

by 0_yngve



Series: Aching Bones, Aching Hearts [8]
Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, Opowiadania Muminków | Die Mumins | The Moomins (Stop Motion 1977), 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Autistic Snusmumriken | Snufkin, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Congenital Disability, Congenital Illness, Disability, Disabled Character, Disabled Snusmumriken | Snufkin, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Snusmumriken | Snufkin, hEDS, hypermobility, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25251571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0_yngve/pseuds/0_yngve
Summary: Not all symptoms are bad.
Relationships: Mumintrollet | Moomintroll/Snusmumriken | Snufkin
Series: Aching Bones, Aching Hearts [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688545
Kudos: 44





	Discoveries

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway, my occupational therapist said that I probably have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) so I’ve been looking at the symptoms and realized some things about my body.

Snufkin was still tired from last night; he didn’t get much sleep. On his starlit walk he had discovered the Hobgoblin’s hat in the river, and he simply had to tell Moomintroll. Now, the two sat in a sunny field of tall grasses, each blade soft as a feather.

Snufkin leaned back on his paws and certainly was looking at the insects on the grass and not his friend.

“Hey Snufkin?” Moomintroll sat up a little straighter.

Snufkin shook his head a bit to re-focus. “Yeah?”

“How can your fingers do that thing?”

Snufkin furrowed his brow. “What thing?”

Moomintroll gestured to the other’s paws. “You know, that thing? Where they bend backwards?”

Snufkin still looked at the troll with vague befuddlement.

Moomintroll laughed while he pointed to Snufkin’s paw. As the mumrik leaned on it, the tips of his fingers were bent backwards. “You’re doing it right now!”

Snufkin looked down to his paw, humming as he saw to what the troll was referring. “I suppose so.”

He sat up and held his paws in his lap, gently testing the boundaries of his joints. The tips of each of his fingers easily bend backwards, as did some of the middle joints. His thumbs, most interestingly of all, were incredibly flexible; they could bend all the way backwards to touch his fore-arm.

Moomintroll’s eyes were the size of saucers. “Wow, Snufkin! How come you never told me you’re double-jointed?”

Snufkin shrugged. “I never realized.”

“How could you not?”

 _Because no-one ever noticed me_ , Snufkin thought. He just shrugged again. His wrists hurt.

* * *

Crickets chirped in the midnight sunset. Stars began to poke through the sky, but they were hidden by the canvas expanse of a tent.

Inside, Moomintroll curled up around Snufkin, basking in the warmth of bare skin. They had spent the sunlight night in each other’s embrace; now tired, they were content to fall asleep in the spartan shelter of taupe.

Moomintroll’s fingers lazily trailed up and down Snufkin’s arm. The skin by his shoulder, only covered in downy fuzz, was so rarely exposed; Moomintroll held such moments in high regard, doing his best to savor them.

Snufkin sighed, a purr tinging his breath. Moomintroll’s ears perked up. He thought the mumrik had fallen asleep.

“What are you doing, you silly troll?” He rolled onto his back to get a look at the other.

Moomintroll huffed and pulled his paw away. He didn’t want to actually make Snufkin uncomfortable.

“Your skin is just so soft.” Moomintroll’s averted his eyes, blush creeping up on his face despite their earlier activities.

Snufkin’s mouth opened for a moment in surprise before laughing. “Oh, hush!” He swatted at Moomintroll. His face reddened.

“What?” Moomintroll nuzzled his snout to Snufkin’s shoulder—a moomin kiss. “I’m serious.”

Snufkin covered his face with his hand, in that moment wishing for his hat. Even so, a smile creeped up onto his lips—still flushed from kissing in a different manner.

“You’re completely daft.”

Moomintroll presented an expression of great offense. “You wound me, my darling.”

He brought his paw to Snufkin’s face, stroking the mumrik’s round cheek with his thumb. It was unbelievably soft, like velvet. Was that typical for skin when it wasn’t covered in fur? Moomintroll thought of the times he’d felt Alicia’s skin. It was soft as well, but certainly no comparison. Little My? Moomintroll was hard pressed to describe any part of her as “soft.”

No, Moomintroll supposed, this was some-thing special to Snufkin. Many things lovely were.

* * *

While the lazy morning light streamed in through the cottage windows, Snufkin sat in his favorite chair, baby Inge in his arms. Moomintroll hovered about as he was wont to do, constantly fussing over the little one.

The pup’s pudgy little paws grabbed at Snufkin’s face, pulling on his cheek. Snufkin laughed.

“What are you doing, chickadee?”

Inge cooed and pulled at Snufkin’s neck. He felt another tug on his cheek, though it wasn’t from the child.

“Moomintroll?” he looked to his partner, who held his cheek between furry fingers.

“What are you doing?” Snufkin’s words were garbled by the tug on his cheek.

Moomintroll’s eyes were shining. “You’re so stretchy.” Snufkin could hear his smile. He couldn’t help but snort.

“What?”

Moomintroll pulled at his cheek again. “Your skin—it stretches so much. Is that a mumrik thing?”

Snufkin made a face. “I don’t know, maybe.”

Inge’s stubby feet swung idly. “I might ask my father next time I see him.”

Snufkin tugged at the skin on the back of his paw. Even where he was covered in dense, wiry fur, it was the same.

As gently as possible, he pinched the skin of Inge’s round snout between his fingers and tugged. It stretched, too.

Maybe it was just because he was young.

Moomintroll nuzzled his snout against where the mumrik had pulled. On Inge. On Snufkin. The short, thick fur smelled of laundry soap and fresh bread and open doors.

“Do you think it’s related?” Snufkin blurted.

Moomintroll pulled away from Snufkin’s cheek.

“To my issues?”

Moomintroll sighed. “It might be.”

Snufkin pursed his lips. “I hope they don’t get them.”

Moomintroll tilted his head. “It’s okay if they do.”

“Of course it is.” Snufkin bounced Inge lightly on his hip.

They had talked about this extensively, the two of them. If the pain carried through the blood. If Snufkin passed it on to their child. If Inge had the same pain, the same sickness, it would be harder; it’s always harder to care for that. But Snufkin was determined to give them all the help and support they could ever need.

He just hoped he wouldn’t have to.

Snufkin buried his nose into the top of Inge’s fuzzy head. The infant in his arms hiccupped softly.

He smelled of laundry soap, of fresh bread, of open doors. 

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr main @smooth-goat   
> disability blog @disabledsnufkin


End file.
